On Friday, January 15, the APS Secondary Option Schools Application closed for families. On Friday, January 29, the APS Welcome Center facilitated the lottery for each of the option schools/programs. Families were notified via email and/or text message of their status on Monday, February 8. Parents must confirm or decline attendance to the school(s) or program(s) to which their students have been accepted no later than February 22, 2021. Students who applied, but were not selected through the lottery process, will be placed in numerical order on a waitlist. Applications received after the deadline are placed at the bottom of the existing waiting list for the upcoming school year. Options seats are continuously filled throughout the school year as seats become available. Families will be notified if they are on the waitlist and a seat becomes available. Additional information is available on the How to Apply page.
APS is not able to offer neighborhood transfers for the 2021-22 school year
Seats Offered: Number of seats available at each school and/or program based on the Superintendent’s Annual Update to the School Board on enrollment and projections.
Number of Applicants: Number of students who applied to each program within the application window (November 4, 2019 – January 17, 2020). The same student is included more than once if the family applied to more than one option school and/or program.
Students on Waitlists: Includes all students waitlisted as of February 8, 2021. Please note that waitlists have moved as families accept seats and they are withdrawn from all other waitlists or if a family cancels their application after they were waitlisted.
High School Option Programs
| SCHOOL/PROGRAM | SEATS OFFERED | NUMBER OF APPLICANTS | STUDENTS ON WAITLISTS |
| Arlington Tech | |||
| Grade 9 | 150 | 221 | 68 |
| Grade 10 | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Grade 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Washington-Liberty IB Program** | |||
| Grade 9 | 64 | 160 | 96 |
| Grade 10 | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| Grade 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| AP Network at Wakefield | |||
| Grade 9 | 15 | 67 | 47 |
| Grade 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Grade 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Grade 12 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Spanish Immersion Program at Wakefield | |||
| Grade 9* | 0 | 15 | 12 |
| Grade 10* | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grade 11* | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grade 12* | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(*) Waiting for the intent-to-return forms from students currently attending Immersion in APS. They have guaranteed admission into the program’s next level. Once families commit and/or decline attendance, if seats become available, students waitlisted will start to receive offers.
(**) During the lottery process, APS offered 70 seats in the IB program at Washington-Liberty High School. APS is now opening additional IB seats at Washington-Liberty for the 2021-22 school year to allow early access to the program to more students. Every student who applied for the IB program by April 8, 2021 and met the eligibility requirements has been offered a seat. Please note that offering additional seats for 2021-22 is a one-time opportunity that is outside the lottery process. Following the Fall 2021 High School Boundary Process, the number of option seats available for this program will be determined in time for the 2022-23 school year.
H-B Woodlawn Grades 9-12
| H-B Woodlawn Grade 9 | Available Seats: 26 | ||
| SCHOOL/PROGRAM | SEATS OFFERED | NUMBER OF APPLICANTS | STUDENTS ON WAITLISTS |
| Dorothy Hamm Allocation | 3 | 33 | 29 |
| Gunston Allocation | 5 | 34 | 24 |
| Jefferson Allocation | 5 | 46 | 37 |
| Kenmore Allocation | 4 | 28 | 22 |
| Swanson Allocation | 4 | 55 | 47 |
| Williamsburg Allocation | 4 | 48 | 38 |
| Resident students not enrolled in APS | 1 | 38 | 36 |
| Grade 10 | 0 | 31 | 331 |
| Grade 11 | 0 | 18 | 18 |
| Grade 12 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
H-B Woodlawn Grades 6-8
| H-B Woodlawn Grade 6 | Available Seats: 75 | ||
| SCHOOL/PROGRAM | SEATS OFFERED | NUMBER OF APPLICANTS | STUDENTS ON WAITLISTS |
| Abingdon-allocation | 4 | 15 | 11 |
| Alice West Fleet- allocation | 4 | 15 | 11 |
| Arlington Science Focus | 4 | 42 | 38 |
| ATS- allocation | 3 | 40 | 37 |
| Ashlawn-allocation | 4 | 30 | 26 |
| Barcroft-allocation | 3 | 11 | 8 |
| Barrett-allocation | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| Campbell-allocation | 2 | 18 | 16 |
| Carlin Springs-allocation | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Claremont-allocation | 3 | 21 | 18 |
| Discovery-allocation | 3 | 26 | 23 |
| Drew-allocation | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Glebe-allocation | 3 | 15 | 12 |
| Hoffman-Boston-allocation | 2 | 13 | 11 |
| Jamestown-allocation | 3 | 17 | 14 |
| Key-allocation | 4 | 12 | 8 |
| Long Branch-allocation | 3 | 27 | 24 |
| McKinley-allocation | 4 | 31 | 26 |
| Montessori Public School of Arlington-allocation | 2 | 25 | 23 |
| Nottingham-allocation | 3 | 26 | 23 |
| Oakridge-allocation | 3 | 26 | 22 |
| Randolph-allocation | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Taylor-allocation | 4 | 27 | 23 |
| Tuckahoe-allocation | 3 | 31 | 28 |
| Resident students not enrolled in APS | 1 | 28 | 27 |
| Grade 7 | 0 | 141 | 141 |
| Grade 8 | 0 | 131 | 131 |
Spanish Immersion & Montessori Programs at Gunston Middle School
| SCHOOL/PROGRAM | SEATS OFFERED | NUMBER OF APPLICANTS | STUDENTS ON WAITLISTS |
| Spanish Immersion Program | |||
| Grade 6 * | 0 | 10 | 8 |
| Grade 7 * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grade 8 * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Montessori Program | |||
| Grade 6* | 0 | 22 | 19 |
| Grade 7* | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Grade 8* | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(*) Waiting for the intent-to-return forms from students currently attending Immersion or Montessori in APS. They have guaranteed admission into the program’s next level. Once families commit and/or decline attendance, if seats become available, students waitlisted will start to receive offers.
For additional information or questions, please contact the APS Welcome Center at 703-228-8000 or schooloptions@apsva.us.
